Syngenta Agrisure Viptera GMO Corn Seed Injury Lawyer

Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera genetically modified (GMO) corn seed marketed to farmers in 2010 as a new wonder seed. Manufacturers touted that was pest resistant; thus allowing for higher yields and increased profit margins. The seed was said to have gained its superpower through the MIR162 event; which is an introduction of a novel insecticidal protein trait. It would help control corn earworm, western bean cutworm, black cutworm, and fall armyworm.

Farmers across the United States bought into the idea of Syngenta’s new agricultural product. They began to grow, harvest and also sell the corn through their regular market channels. In 2013, corn farmers, distributors and exporters were in for a major shock. China, one of the U.S.’s major corn importers, refused to accept products that came from, or that may have intermingled during processing with, genetically modified corn with a MIR162 trait.

Financial Losses of Syngenta Agrisure Viptera GMO Corn Seed

China’s refusal to accept U.S. corn imports that had any connection with the MIR162 trait, created a ripple effect that resulted in U.S. corn prices drastically dropping. The National Grain and Feed Association estimated the cost to American farmers to be at $1.14 billion for the last nine months of 2014.

Syngenta now faces allegations and potential lawsuits for marketing a product to U.S. farmers that they knew not yet approved by one of the country’s largest importers. There have also been formal legal complaints brought up against the company by non-MIR162 corn farmers who were also negatively impacted by the economic downswing.